Subject to Overflow: The History of Drainage Districts in Jasper County, Iowa

Between 1908 and 1915 the South Skunk River in Jasper County, Iowa was artificially straightened from its natural, crooked state. Landowners and farmers that owned land near the river sought better control of seasonal flooding patterns, and, through the organization of a drainage district, combined their financial resources to make environmental changes to the riverbottom lands. The wet prairie environment of Jasper County, and much of the Upper Midwest, has been altered by large-scale drainage projects, and today is under a very high degree of manipulation. The environmental characteristics found in riparian environments like the Skunk River that have abided throughout recorded history are relics of a substantially different landscape than what is seen today.